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Etrandish dialects
The Etrandish language has a varierity of dialects. The vocabulary and grammar are overwhelmingly the same - other than slang - and the main difference is pronounciation. Standard Etrandish vs Mesolects vs Dialects Variants of "natural" Etrandish are divided into three groups: * Standard Etrandish, based off the Grandfolk dialect. * The various dialects that are elaborated below. * Mesolects serving as a compromise between Standard Etrandish and the local dialect The characteristics of mesolects are: * Pronounciation of the coda-nasals /m n ŋ/ as n ŋ * Preservation of all distinctions that Standard Etrandish makes but are abolished in the dialects * Pronounciation of /r/ in the way the local dialect does. * Presence of cross-dialectal variation that normally does not exist in Standard Etrandish. A few examples to diferencs between dialects and mesolects: * /gɔtər/ ** g̊ɔtʰəɹ in Standard Etrandish ** kɔtʰəʁ in the Northern Etrandish dialect ** g̊ɔtʰəʁ in the Northern Etrandish mesolect. * /rɑrərn/ ** rɑɾəɹn in Standard Etrnadish ** ɽɑɽəɻɳ~ɽɑɽəɳː in the Copperport dialect ** ɽɑɽəɻn in the Copperort mesolect * /kɔpːərpɔrt/ ** kʰɔpʰːəɹpɔɹt in Standard Etrandish, ** kʰɑpʰːəɻpʊɻɖ̥~kʰɑpʰːəɻpʊɖ̥ː in the Copperport dialect ** kʰɔpʰːəɻpɔɻt in the Copperport mesolect Etrandish dialects in Etrand Western Etrandish While Standard Etrandish is based off Western Etrandish - as the capital city Grandfolk is located in Western Etrand -, there are still quite a few differences between the two: * In Standard Etrandish, /r/ is pronounced as a trill r word-initially and when geminated, a flap ɾ when in the syllable onset (except word-initially), an approximant ɹ in the syllable coda. In Western Etrandish, /r/ is always pronounced as a flap ɾ when not geminated, even word-initially. Geminated /r/ is still pronounced as a trilled r. Coda-position /r/ may have a a strong postvocalic release ɾᵊ. * In Standard Etrandish, the coda-position nasals /m n ŋ/ are fully preserved in their original forms n ŋ. Meanwhile, in Western Etrandish, they are merged into an archiphoneme /N/, which is pronounced as m before labial consonants, n before alveolar consonants, ŋ before velar consonants, and either a uvular nasal ɴ or a nasal glide ʏ̯̃~ʊ̯̃ (forming nasal diphthongs) at the end of words. The final cluster /rn/ is exempt from this treatment, and is pronounced as ɾn. * Western Etrandish makes use of "helping vowels" - an ultra-short schwa ə̆ inserted between two consonants in clusters, especially word-initial clusters. Nasal + obstrudent clusters are generally exempted from this treatment. * Standard Etrandish preserves both /θ/ and /ð/ as θ and ð. Western Etrandish preserves only /θ/, merging /ð/ with /d/. Inner Etrandish * /ð/ is merged with /d/, /θ/ is merged with /f/ * Word-final /m n ŋ/ are pronounced as nasal-glides ʏ̯̃ ʊ̯̃, forming diphthongs with the preceding vowel. The final cluster /rn/ is exempt from this treatment, and is pronounced as ɹn. * /r/ is pronounced as a uvular trill ʀ word-initially and when geminated, an alveolar flap ɾ otherwise. ** Intervocalic /l/ is also a flapped ɾ * /ʊ/ is often unrounded and lowered to /ʌ/, except after labial consonants. * The labio-velar stops /kʷ gʷ/ are softened to /xʷ w/. * Word-final short vowels are all reduced to a schwa ə. For example, /kʷɑlɑ/ is pronounced xʷɑɾə. * Word-final voicing distinctions are lost between stops: all word-final stops are slack-voiced. Northern Etrandish * /θ ð/ are preserved as ð, just like in Standard Etrandish. * The modally-voiced stops and affricates /b d d͡ʒ g gʷ/ are fully devoiced t t͡ʃ k kʷ word-initially. They are still distinct from the modally voiceless /p t t͡ʃ k kʷ/, which are aspirated. ** All word-final stops and affricates are slack-voiced or voiceless-unaspirated. * The word-initial voiced fricatives /v z ð/ are either devoiced to s θ or softened to ɹ ɹ, depending on speaker preference. ** When Northern Etrandish speakers try to speak Standard Etrandish, they may hypercorrect and replace ɹ with z or ð * Unlike in other dialects - and just like in Standard Etrandish - the coda-position nasals /m n ŋ/ are preserved as n ŋ. * Guttural R: **Word-initial and geminated /r/ is pronounced as a uvular trill/fricative ʀ~ʁ. **Intervocalic /r/ is pronounced as a uvular flap ʀ̆. **Coda-position /r/ is pronounced either as a uvular approximant/semivowel ʁ̞~ɐ̯ or a uvular flap ʀ̆, depending on speaker preference. **The clusters /pr tr t͡ʃr kr/ are pronounced tχ t͡ɕχ~ʈ͡ʂχ kχ, especially word-initially. * /ɪr ʏr ʊr/ are preserved and kept distinct - Standard Etrandish and all other dialects merge them into /ər/. * /s/ is often palatalized to /ʃ/ before and after /i/ * /t͡ʃ d͡ʒ ʃ/ are dissimilated. They are palatalized to d͡ʑ ɕ before front vowels, retroflexed ɖ͡ʐ ʂ everywhere else. * The lax /ɪ ʏ ʊ/ are tensed to /i y u/ ** They are still distinct from the long /iː yː uː/ Southern Etrandish * Word-final /m n ŋ/ are pronounced as nasal-glides ʏ̯̃ ʊ̯̃, forming diphthongs with the preceding vowel. The final cluster /rn/ is exempt from this treatment, and is pronounced as ɹn. * /r/ is consistently pronounced an alveolar approximant ɹ. ** Coda-position /r/ may be elided (non-rhotic). Speakers who elide coda-position /r/ usually enlong the vowel before it, which introduces the long schwa əː that is generally merged with the diphthong /øʏ̯/. * /θ ð/ are merged with /f d/ * Coda-position /l/ is vocalized to ʊ̯. * /ʊ/ is unrounded and lowered to /ʌ/ when not following a labial consonant - a feature shared with Inner Etrandish. ** /ʌ/ is generally pronounced as ɐ or merged with /ɑ/ * Short /ɛ/ is raised to e̞. Long /ɛː/ is lowered to æː * Short /ɔ/ is merged with /ɑ/. Long /ɔː/ remains distinct. * The aspiration is weak on modally voiceless stops. They may be even completely unaspirated, leaving only the voicing distinction. Copperport dialect The accent in Copperport shares many features with the Southern Etrandish dialect, but is still distinct. It also shares a lot of features with the Southern Etrancoasti dialect, and it is not clear whether the Copperport dialect influenced Southern Etrancoasti or the other way around. * /θ/ is merged with /f/, /ð/ is pronounced a dental stop d̪ that is never retroflexed by preceding /r/, keeping it semi-distinct from /d/. * Word-final /m n ŋ/ are pronounced as nasal-glides ʏ̯̃ ʊ̯̃, forming diphthongs with the preceding vowel. The final cluster /rn/ is exempt from this treatment, and is pronounced as ɻɳ~ɳː. * /r/ is pronounced as a retroflex flap ɽ in the syllable onset, a retroflex approximant ɻ in the syllable coda (except before /t d/, where it's still a flap). Geminated /rː/ is either degeminated to ɽ, or pronounced an alveolar/uvular trill r~ʀ. The retroflex articulation of /r/ is a feature shared with the Southern Etrancoasti dialect. ** The clusters /tr dr/ are pronounced as ɖ͡ʐɻ instead of dɽ, a feature shared with the Southern Etrancoasti dialect. * The shibilants /tʃ dʒ ʃ/ are strongly palatalized to d͡ʑ ɕ, or even ɟ ɕ by some speakers. This helps to keep them distinct from /tr dr/, which are pronounced as ɖ͡ʐɻ. Another feature shared with the Southern Etrancoasti dialect * The clusters /rn rt rt rs rz rl/ are pronounced as either ɽʈ ɽɖ ɻʂ ɻʐ ɻɭ or ʈː ɖː ʂː ʐː ɭː, depending on speaker preference. ** Lower-class speakers and stereotypical sailors pronounce word-final /rt rd/ as ɻː instead of ɽɖ̥~ɖ̥ː. This is not to be confused with /rː/, which is still pronoucned as an alveolar/uvular trill r~ʀ. ** Lower-class speakers generally pronounce /rl/ as ɻː instead of ɻɭ~ɭː. This is not to be confused with /rː/, which is still pronoucned as an alveolar/uvular trill r~ʀ. ** Some lower-class speakers may also pronounce coda-position - or even intervocalic - /r/ as ɻ, but this is very stigmatized. * Distinction between modally voiced and voiceless stops is neutralized word-finally, being slack-voiced. * /ɔr/ is pronounced as ʊɻ, hence the city's name, Copperport is pronounced as kʰɑpʰːəɻpʰʊɽɖ̥~kʰɑpʰːəɻpʰʊɖ̥ː, versus the Standard Etrandish kʰɔpʰːəɹpʰɔɹt. This led to the city being nicknamed as "Capperpudd" kʰɑpʰːəɹpʊdː in other regions. * Short /ɛ/ is raised to e̞. Long /ɛː/ is lowered to æː * Short /ɔ/ is merged with /ɑ/ (except before /r/). Long /ɔː/ remains distinct. Eastern Mountains dialect Spoken in the sparserly inhabited mountains along the Etrandish-Etrancoasti border, the local dialects share a lot of phonological features with Northern Etrancoasti, and have a lot of loanwords from Etrancoasti. * /r/ is always pronounced as a trill, either alveolar r or uvular ʀ. The flap and approximant pronounciations are never used. * Word-final /m n ŋ/ are pronounced as nasal-glides ʏ̯̃ ʊ̯̃, forming diphthongs with the preceding vowel. The final cluster /rn/ is exempt from this treatment, and is pronounced as rn~ʀɴ. * /t͡ʃ d͡ʒ ʃ/ are retroflexed to ɖ͡ʐ ʂ. This helps to keep them distinct from /t d/ before front vowels, which are pronounced ɟ or d͡ʑ. * /n t d s z/ are palatalized tʲ dʲ sʲ zʲ before front vowels other than /ɛ/ ** The palatalization on /n t d/ is usually stronger, to cʰ ɟ or even t͡ɕʰ d͡ʑ by some speakers. * /θ/ is merged with /f/, /ð/ is pronounced a dental stop d̪ that is never palatalized by proceeding front vowel, keeping it semi-distinct from /d/. * The diphthongs /eɪ øʏ oʊ/ are replaced by long vowels øː oː * The modally voiced stops and affricates /b d d͡ʒ g gʷ/ are usually breathy-voiced dʱ d͡ʒʱ gʱ gʷʱ word-initially. /r/ too is breathy-voiced/murmured r̤~ʀ̤ word-initially. * The modally voiceless stops /p t t͡s t͡ʃ k kʷ/ lose their aspiration medially, retaining it only word-initially. Cross-dialectal variation Some features happen to span across multiple dialects or are independent of dialects, and may be up to speaker preference: * Intervocalic T and D flapping: A lot of speakers - independently of dialect - may pronounce intervocalic /t/ and /d/ as an apico-alveolar flap ɾ̺ - for speakers who pronounce /ð/ as d, intervocalic /ð/ becomes a dental flap ɾ̪. For speakers who pronounce /r/ as a flap/trill, this inevitably cause confusion between intervocalic /r/, /t/, /d/ and /ð/. ** In Northern Etrand - where /r/ is a uvular ʀ~ʁ - and Southern Etrand - where /r/ is consistently ɹ - this confusion does not happen, and the flapped ɾ is considered an allophone of /t/ and /d/ rather than a rhotic sound. ** Intervocalic T and D flapping is frequent (but not universal) in dialectal and mesolectal speech, but rare (not nonexistent though) in Standard Etrandish, other than in fast and casual speech. * Intervocalic lenition: For speakers of dialects that merge /ð/ with /d/ or pronounce it as a stop d̪ - Western Etrandish, Inner Etrandish, Southern Etrandish and the Copperport dialect - , intervocalic and coda-position /b d d͡ʒ g/ may be lenited to ð ʒ ɣ. Out of these, β has a tendency to shift to v, while ɣ may be removed altogether. ** Sometimes, speakers switch between pronouncing intervocalic /d/ as ɾ and ð without any consistency. ** Speakers of Standard Etrandish may also exhibit lenition of intervocalic /b d d͡ʒ g/, but only in fast or casual speech, never in careful or formal speech. * Intervocalic T-glottalization: Some speakers pronounce intervocalic /t/ as a glottal stop ʔ. Once prevalent in Northern Etrand, this phenomenon is stigmatized, associated with stereotypical peasants. As of the 9th century AEKE, it is a rather rare phenomenon - even in Northern Etrand -, mostly eclipsed by either intervocalic flapping of /t d/ to ɾ or usage of the Standard Etrandish tʰ. * Speakers of Standard Etrandish pronounce coda-position /r/ as either a velarized alveolar ɹˠ or retroflex ɻ, free variation. Historically, the velarized alveolar articulation was preferred, but nowdays, the retroflex one is getting more and more popular. Foreign accents Etrancoasti * /ɛ œ ɔ/ are realized as true mid ø̞ o̞, halfway between /ɛ œ ɔ/ and /e ø o/ * /ɛː ɔː eɪ̯ øʏ̯ oʊ̯/ are realized as ou̯ ei̯ øy̯ ou̯ * The modally voiced stops and affricates /b d d͡ʒ g gʷ/ are completely devoiced t t͡ʃ k kʷ word-initally and word-finally, but still kept distinct from their modally voiceless counterparts /p t t͡ʃ k kʷ/ , which are aspirated tʰ t͡ʃʰ kʰ kʷʰ. ** Most speakers either soften /g gʷ/ to a continuants w or always pronounce them as a voiceless kʷ * Etrancoasti-accented Etrandish is usually subject to the same variation as pure Etrancoasti is, such as the palatalization of velars before front vowels and /j/. Artaburro Wood Elven * /ɛː ɔː/ are raised to /eː oː/ * The lax /ɪ ʏ ʊ/ are tensed to /i y u/ * /œ øʏ̯/ are usually replaced by /y yː/ * /θ/ is usually mispronounced as either s (Th-alveolarization) or f (Th-fronting) * /r/ is always a trill/flap ɾ~r. This is correct in the syllable onset, but in the syllable coda, the correct usage would the approximant ɹ - Artaburrans use the flapped ɾ in coda position too. * The voiceless stops are pronounced as only slightly aspirated, as opposed to the stronger aspirated that is considered correct in Etrandish * Final /ŋ/ is split to /ŋg/ Dragoc Wood Elven * /ɛː ɔː/ are raised to /eː oː/ * The lax /ɪ ʏ ʊ/ are tensed to /i ʉ/. /u/ and /y/ are merged into /ʉ/. * /œ øʏ̯/ are usually replaced by /ʉ ʉː/ * /θ/ is usually mispronounced as s (Th-alveolarization) * The voiceless stops are pronounced as only slightly aspirated, as opposed to the stronger aspirated that is considered correct in Etrandish * /r/ and /l/ are merged and pronounced as a flapped ɾ~ɺ. Coda-position /r/ is usually elided and the preceding vowel is lengthened. /ər/ is replaced by aː. * /s z n/ are palatalized to ʑ ɲ before /i/. Some speakers may palatalize /t d/ into d͡ʑ before /i/, but this is rarer. * Final /ŋ/ is either merged with /n/ or extended into /ŋg/ * /hʊ huː/ are replaced by /ɸʉ ɸʉː/ High Elven * /ɛː/ is either lowered to æː or raised to eː * /ɔː/ is raised to oː * The diphthongs /eɪ̯ oʊ̯/ are replaced by long vowels /eː oː/ * Problems with front rounded vowels: ** The short /œ ʏ/ are usually merged with /ɛ ɪ/ or /ɔ ʊ/ ** The long /øʏ̯ yː/ usually become /eʊ̯ ɪʊ̯/ * The schwa /ə/ is usually replaced by either ɛ, except word-finally * /z/ is affricated to /d͡z/ word-initially and after nasals * /r/ is always a trill/flap ɾ~r. This is correct in the syllable onset, but in the syllable coda, the correct usage would the approximant ɹ - High Elves use the flapped ɾ in coda position too. ** A lot of speakers may pronounce /ər/ as aː and/or elide coda-position Rs (non-rhotic accent). Others pronounce /ər/ as either əɾ or ɛɾ, and always pronounce Rs (rhotic accent). The usage of aː is quite peculiar, as High Elven lacks the sound - it only has ɑ and æː. * The voiceless stops are pronounced as only slightly aspirated, as opposed to the stronger aspirated that is considered correct in Etrandish * /θ/ is usually fronted to f (Th-fronting) * Final /ŋ/ is split to /ŋg/ Dark Elven * /ɛː ɔː/ are lowered to /æː ɒː/. /ɛ ɔ/ remain unchanged. * The lax vowels /ɪ ʏ ʊ/ are tensed /i ɨᵝ u/ * The front rounded /œ øː ʏ yː/ are replaced by central rounded /ɜᵝ ɘᵝː ɨᵝ ɨᵝː/. Native speakers of Etrandish can rarely tell the difference. * The diphthongs /eɪ̯ øʏ̯ oʊ̯/ are replaced by long monophthongs /eː ɘᵝː oː/ * /θ/ is usually mispronounced as either s (Th-alveolarization) or f (Th-fronting) * /r/ is pronounced as a uvular trill/flap/fricative ʀ~ʀ̆~ʁ ** A lot of speakers may pronounce /ər/ as aː and/or elide coda-position Rs (non-rhotic accent). Others pronounce /ər/ as əʀ~əʀ̆~əʁ and always pronounce Rs (rhotic accent). * /h/ is pronounced as a velar/uvular x~χ * /gʷ/ is usually mispronounced as g or w * Voiceless stops are unaspirated. Some native Etrandish-speakers may mishear these unaspirated stops for voiced stops. * The schwa /ə/ is often completely removed, creating new syllabic consonants or complex consonant clusters that do not exist in Etrandish. See also * Etrandish language Category:Kingdom of Etrand